In the early days of Building Information Modeling, it was easy to think of BIM as simply a more advanced form of CAD. But BIM is more than a tool for design—it’s a tool for decision-making. That’s because we can associate any kind of data with a model or component. That means we can take a data-driven approach not only to building design, but to estimation, construction, and operations, too—every stage of the building lifecycle.
By leveraging BIM data for operations, building owners and facility managers can drive better outcomes for their occupants and their bottom line, since “approximately 80% of the total cost of building ownership occurs in operations after construction post-occupancy,” according to Nick Stefanidakis of Eptura. “So even a small improvement in operations can have a dramatic impact on the overall lifecycle costs of a facility.”
If you take that approach to its natural (and technological) conclusion, you’ll get a digital twin—a digital replica of a real-world entity or system that continuously informs and is informed by the real world. For a building, the digital twin can map heating, cooling, power, plumbing, and any other functioning building system. It can track traffic and space usage by people as well as maintenance needs. And with the right data and analytics, it can start to predict problems and plan maintenance so that you can avoid downtime. Eventually, a digital twins can even use AI to respond to problems—adjusting temperature and other operational variables automatically in response to input.
When Autodesk Tandem was launched, the focus was on providing owners with contextual access to design and construction data at handover. But that’s really just the beginning. In 2023, facilities monitoring capabilities were released for Tandem, allowing you to track occupancy trends in near-real time and visualize historical trends as heat maps on 3D models. This enables you to define relationships between assets, spaces, and systems over time so you can strategize and optimize operations, making your buildings more efficient, more sustainable, and more comfortable.
Digital twins and data strategies for business owners were important topics at AU 2024. Check out these sessions to deepen your understanding and build your skills:
Getting started
- Digital Twins: The Competitive Advantage—Karina Cardenas and Arundhati Ghosh explore how these digital twins can bridge gaps in the handover process, securing data critical to successful facilities management. Tune in for guidance on how to introduce digital twins to building operators and success stories from organizations that have mastered digital twins.
- Ready, Set, Twin: The Digital Twin, Decoded—Join Chandan Sutradhar and Siva Koppula to learn about digital twin implementation across diverse industry verticals—including airports, hospitals, metros, and office buildings. Discover how the nuances of each vertical shapes our approach, and learn why creating and maintaining digital twins is a progressive journey.
- A Paradigm Shift in Building Operations : Digital Twin with BIM and AI-based Data Analytics—Discover how Samsung C&T is using a digital twin powered by AI to improve operations of a 100,000 square-meter office building with solutions for energy management and comfort control that work in real time using machine learning models and optimization algorithms.
Learning from leaders
- Innovating with Digital Twins: Strategy and Application in BAM's Construction Projects—Bob Moons and Jordy Vos discuss the importance of the digital twin strategy at BAM and demonstrate how they used Autodesk Tandem software to realize a digital twin for risk reduction during a construction project.
- ECOFACT Digital Twin Platform: An Energy and Resource Management System for Factories— Riccardo Merizzi and Andrea Perego showcase ECOFACT, an innovative energy management platform for factories that combines data about production lines and machines with simulation and optimization tools into a single web environment. Learn about their dashboard that includes an LCA/LCCA module based on SimaPro and an Energy and Resource Management System (ERMS) built on Autodesk Platform Services.
- Boosting Campus Operational Efficiency Through the Power of Autodesk Tandem Digital Twins—Discover how researchers and facility managers at the University of Florida collaborated on implementing Autodesk Tandem software in facilities and asset management (FAM) to improve operational efficiency, automate repetitive tasks, and enhance preventative maintenance. Learn how they integrated sensor and actuator device data using an academic building's Revit model in Tandem to create a twin that monitors facility performance in real time.
- Past Meets Future: Preserving History with Digital Twins—Can a digital twin help preserve one of the nation's preeminent Victorian civic structures? Robert Fink and Charles Thompson show you how Quinn Evans has pioneered a method to merge past data with current information. Working with the Michigan State Capitol, the firm has applied this approach to more efficiently, effectively, and sustainably manage and maintain the Capitol, including more than nine acres of historic finishes, all while serving the state legislative body and general public.
- Revolutionizing Railway Sustainability: Unleashing the Power of Autodesk Tandem as a Metro Rail Digital Twin Solution—Ferdi Tatar ad Saban Kus show how they integrated data from SCADA and energy management systems with digital twins for the İstanbul Metro, achieving cost savings of 25% on operations and maintenance and energy efficiency gains of 37%.
Learn more about digital twins and the future of digitized construction and building operations anytime on the Construction page at Autodesk University.